The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in the Eastern Cape has urged residents to be vigilant following the discovery of the shot-hole borer beetle in the city, which destroys various types of trees.
The outbreak of the beetle was first detected in 2017 at the Botanical Garden in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. It has killed trees in the area and in Cape Town.
The shot-hole borer beetle reproduces very rapidly inside a tree and then spreads to other trees.
Health MMC for the Metro, Thsonono Buyeye says Shot-hole beetle bores into trunks of favorable host trees and starts its life cycle in the tree, feeding on the tree and eventually killing the tree. The danger is that the trees die and are more vulnerable to strong winds as they are rotten. We want to warn our people to be on the lookout. We dont want rotten trees to fall on people, children or property.
